How do I stop feeling guilty about being childless?

A:

Quick Answer

In order to stop feeling guilty about being childless, you must identify the factors that are influencing you to feel this way. Childless people can be unfairly stigmatized by friends and family. Myths about childlessness in society can be harmful to those who don't wish to have children.

Keep Learning

Guilt over childlessness can be rooted in a number of different factors. Friends and family may react harshly to voluntary childlessness and label someone as selfish. You may have to deny your parents the opportunity to be grandparents. Those around you may present a variety of moral and emotional arguments for having children. In a larger sense, worries over how society views childless women can inspire negative emotions.

You can alleviate these negative emotions by telling yourself, and perhaps others in your life, that children should never be born to parents who don't truly want them. Having a baby is a serious investment of time, money and emotions. If you have no desire to make this commitment, it does not make you a bad person in any way. You simply have different priorities.

Many parents are unhappy, and some are even regretful. Explain this to your friends and family, and remind others that this is a personal choice each person is free to make, and that social pressures to have children are increasingly archaic.

If the guilt is coming from your own perception of what it means to be childless, it might be helpful to research the subject and reach out to other childless individuals and couples. Many celebrities are speaking out about childlessness, as the choice is becoming more common. The stigma that was once attached to being childless is becoming a thing of the past.